Old Mutual Global Investors is to launch a mirror version of its Pan African fund for UK investors.
Subject to regulatory approval, the open-ended fund will launch on 3 November this year in conjunction with the South Africa-based Old Mutual Group.
The lead manager is Cavan Osborne, who has been running African equity funds for the past three years for Old Mutual.
The fund is a mirror of an existing South African-registered product. It holds between 30 and 40 high conviction stocks, with a third of the fund invested in South Africa, a quarter in Nigeria and 8.8% in Egypt.
It will be seeded with $50m by the group, and allowed to grow to a maximum size of $750m (£450m). The holdings in South Africa and overseas companies with activities in Africa are expected to grow as the fund expands, in order to preserve liquidity. At present, 40% of the fund can be liquidated in 15 days.
The fund will be registered in Dublin, and will have a base currency of US dollars.
Speaking about the upcoming launch, OMGI chief executive Julian Ide said: "At launch, this fund will be one of the biggest Pan-African funds available in the market without about $100m under management.
"It already has an established investment track record and we believe it will be highly attractive to UK and off-shore investors."
One quarter of the fund is in financials, more than a fifth is in consumer staples and there are also large holdings in the consumer discretionary and telecoms sectors. The fund has a dividend yield of roughly 3.6%.
